Old Friendships
by RaphaelplusMikey
Summary: Nobody really knows about Gajeel's past. Not even Juvia, despite how close they are. But one day a quirky girl shows up and brings out a side of Gajeel that few have ever seen. Natsu immediately starts wondering how you can grow up with a dragon and Dragonslayer and NOT be one yourself. But there's more to her than anyone knows. Maybe it has to do with the her human-but-not scent?
1. A Mystery In and Of Itself

**Old Friendships**

**Chapter One**

**A Mystery In and Of Itself**

**Me: Hey there peoples! RpM here, with my first Fairy Tail story! As I'm posting this story, I'm also going to be posting my second Fairy Tail story so that I can compare the two and see what people think. :) As you might notice, I'm going to be making an effort to actually NAME my chapters in these stories! :D**

**Ok, this story was inspired by another story I'm writing that is not a fanfiction, if my story was actually real I would be posting this as a crossover. As it is not, I can instead post this and put it as a normal story! I will put a warning in now, this story will eventually contain Yaoi. Not anything even worthy of Teen though, maybe a few kisses at most. Partly because I know nada on romance, partly because the two people aren't very open when they show their feelings. Woops, did I say that out loud? *whistles innocently***

**Mira: Ooooh! I can't wait until that part comes in! *squealing with hearts in her eyes***

**Me: Be strong Mira-chan, that will be a LONG way in the future.**

**Mara: *pouting* But... My OTP... *sniffs***

**Me: I TOTALLY agree with you. *crying***

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or anything associated with it. The only things that I own are this storyline, my OCs, and any theories and ideas that are not mentioned in the manga or anime.**

**(By the way, does anyone know what OTP stands for? I know what it means, just not what it stands for. First person to let me know gets a hint to the future pairings and gets to decide ONE pairing for themselves, not including the characters I've already chosen. :D)**

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><p>Gajeel's P.o.V.<p>

It was a normal day at Fairy Tail. That is, a ginormous mess. Phantom Lord was never this insane!

It was barely eleven o'clock in the morning, and there'd already been a fight that left one person with a broken wrist and one table and two chairs reduced to splinters. That wasn't to say that I hadn't joined in...

It was still insane. But then again, as someone I used to know always said: "There's no such thing as insane, only insanely fun." That saying actually perfectly described Fairy Tail... _/Maybe I should engrave it on a plaque./_

Natsu's team of idiots was lazing around, trying to ignore the Flamebrained idiot himself. He kept pestering them to go out on a job, when they'd only just finished one a short time ago. Short time as in they'd only gotten back at four o'clock that morning.

Other then the fight, the several more that would inevitably happen before the day ended, and the loud whining, it had been a pretty good day. So far nobody had bothered me, and I was planning on grabbing a mission as soon as Natsu and Nab stopped hogging the job board.

Of course, my day _would _be ruined at that very moment.

The front doors opened dramatically and a slim hooded figure stood in the doorway, creating a silhouette. A large grey, birdlike creature perched on the person's shoulder.

My heart sank as I recognized the bird creature, along with the strange human-but-not scent of the person accompanying it.

"Well, barzul..." I muttered to myself. "There goes the chance of having even a _slightly _quiet day..." Despite this, I couldn't help the slight smirk of anticipation that crossed my face.

_/This will be interesting./_

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><p>Lucy's P.o.V.<p>

As I looked at the figure ominously posed in the doorway with curiosity, I noticed a large shawl-cape?-thing covering his left shoulder all the way down to his hip. I decided to examine the bird until I could see the person better. It was a single shade of dark grey all over, with three large armor-looking plates covering the front of its stomach and neck. A long trail of spiky feathers trailed behind it and similar feathers spiked off of its head in an elegant yet deadly looking crest.

I heard sniffing, and saw Natsu smelling the air repeatedly with a look of confusion. I took a quick look at the only other person in the room with a nose as strong as Natsu's, Laxus was on a mission, and saw Gajeel slouched down in his corner bench with a dark scowl. Did he know this guy?

"May we help you?" From my seat at the bar I could hear Mirajane perfectly clear as she walked up to him and smiled. The fact that the entire guild was turned towards the door and listening in perfect silence probably helped too.

"Actually, yeah." I blinked as the voice turned out to be female, light and cheerful. The person pulled back her hood to reveal a young teenager, probably only fifteen at the most. "I'm looking for a friend of mine, and I'd heard that he'd joined this guild." She smiled and waved to everybody, blindingly white teeth and slightly sharp canines flashing. Her ice white hair with slight blue highlights was done up in an extremely short ponytail, almost a bun, with a single lock framing her dark blue eyes.

A few of the younger male members waved back dazedly, and you could practically see the hearts in their eyes. The girl giggled slightly and shook her head at them.

"Well who is he? If he's not anywhere around here he might be on a mission, and we can tell you where he's at." Mira said slightly unfocused, her matchmaking mode automatically kicking in as a good portion of the male population in the guild drooled.

The girl never answered, instead scanning the room for the person she was looking for with a hand set to her forehead in a cheesy pose. Her eyes took in the whole room, sweeping past Gajeel but then shooting straight back at him. She smiled and waved wildly, seeming to ignore the loud growl he produced. "Gajeel-kun!" Several people's jaws dropped, nobody but Juvia had ever called him kun, as she practically flounced over to where he sat.

"Do you know that girl?" I whispered to Juvia, who was conveniently placed in the barstool right next to me.

"Juvia does not recognize her." She whispered back. I frowned, Juvia was the person who knew Gajeel the most. If she didn't know this person, who seemed to know him very well, then something was up.

"Mia, what do you want?" Gajeel growled, ignoring how several people in the guild glared at him for being so rude to someone who seemed so nice. He definitely didn't like her very much, and it wasn't exactly hard to find out why. Their personalities appeared to be the exact opposite of each other.

"Well, I'd _love _to tell you, but we've got a few not-so-unnoticeable eavesdroppers here." She answered cheekily, pointing her thumb backwards at everyone else before setting it sassily on her hip.

In complete sync everyone turned around in their seats and continued their previous conversations in hushed whispers, every once and a while failing to sneak a glance at the two people. The girl-Mia?-sat down on one of the benches across from him and started talking. She sat really weirdly though. Instead of just sitting on her butt, she curled her legs up next to her on the bench so that she basically sat on the side of her hip. Despite the odd position, she made it look graceful and it seemed to fit her for some weird reason.

While we had been able to hear her before, now the guild was far too noisy for us to hear that far across the room. So we turned to our secret weapon.

"Hey Natsu, what are they saying?" Gray asked. Natsu frowned in concentration, his ears twitching slightly in a kind of cute way.

As the two talked the strange bird hopped, literally _hopped_ like a frog, from the girl's shoulder to Gajeel's. He didn't seem to really notice, just reached up and absentmindedly scratched the top of its head as it leaned into the contact. Natsu's look of concentration turned into confusion.

"Well?" I nudged him slightly. "What are they saying?"

"I... I don't understand them." He said blushing in embarrassment.

"What do you mean 'you don't understand them', they're speaking English right?" Gray's words were sarcastic, but they made Natsu blush harder.

"Actually, no they're not!" He scratched the back of his head.

Our jaws all dropped as we all looked at the Iron Dragon Slayer in astonishment. While the girl seemed smart enough, if a bit of a goofball, to speak another language, Gajeel had been raised by a dragon. He'd never even been to school before, how had he learned a different language?!

"Juvia wonders..." Juvia muttered, staring at her lap. We all stared at her and she looked up at us. "When Juvia first met Gajeel-kun, he was already a member of Phantom Lord. But he once said something that made it sound like he didn't always live in Fiore. Juvia wonders if that's why he speaks this other language, and maybe this girl as well."

"Did you ever know he could?" I asked her. "Speak another language, I mean."

She shook her head. "Juvia knows Gajeel-kun best, but she still doesn't know very much about him."

We all looked back at Gajeel and the girl. He was frowning and seemed bothered by something she'd said. He stood up, motioning for her to follow him.

They left the guild, and as soon as the doors closed everyone started talking about the odd girl, wondering who she was and how she knew Gajeel.

Mirajane came over to us with a smile. "Isn't she just a cutie?" We all just stared at her.

"Did _you _know her Mira-chan?" Juvia asked her with a curious tilt of her head.

"Oh no, but she seems so nice! I hope she comes back so we can properly meet her!" We all sweatdropped at Mira's typical friendly attitude.

"Aren't you just a _little _curious about who she is and how she knows Gajeel?" Gray said with confusion.

"Of course! But she seems so kind, I'm actually kind of worried for her. Gajeel didn't really seem to like her..." We all gulped at what she was implying. Gajeel was known for his bad temper and not getting along with others. The girl seemed like her attitude would rub him the wrong way in a _very _short amount of time, and who knows what Gajeel would do if his temper snapped?

"I doubt that we need to be worried." Master Makarov spoke up from his seat on the bar. "She seems really young and I sensed no magical energy from her, but did you notice? That bird creature was nearly half her size, and yet she showed no visible sign of strain from carrying it." We all blinked as we realized it was true. When the bird had jumped to Gajeel's shoulder, he had tensed slightly to hold it up, but the girl had been completely relaxed.

"Oh yeah!" Natsu said excitedly as he realized something else. "Her feet didn't make _any _noise _at all _when she walked either!"

"She didn't seem scared or intimidated too." I added in.

"She didn't smell all human." Natsu said almost offhandedly. Even Master Makarov stared at him for that one. "What?"

"What do you mean, 'didn't smell all human'?" Master asked.

"I meant, she smelled human, but not!" We stared blankly at him, we seemed to be doing a lot of staring today. "What? That's the only way I can think of to explain it!" He whined sullenly.

"She was evaluating us." We all turned to look at Erza, who was the only person capable of pulling off a successful serious expression while eating strawberry cream cake. She looked at Master Makarov as she continued. "When she was scanning the guild, she wasn't just looking at us. She was examining us, putting faces to names and reputations, looking for and locating strong points, weak points, and potential threats. I only just barely realized it when she glanced over me, and her evaluation of the entire guild only took a few seconds."

We all looked at the guild doors. How could anyone do such a thorough evaluation in the span of a couple seconds? It was impossible to do it that fast for as many people that were in the guild, even if it was someone as skilled as Erza!

"Well, next time we see her or Gajeel we can find a little more about what's going on. For now, they obviously wanted a little privacy." Master said, finishing his words with a gulp of beer out of his mug.

"Maybe they liiiiiiiiiiiiike each other!" Happy called out with a grin. We all sweatdropped as Mira's eyes turned into hearts and she began to babble on about 'opposites attract' and 'secret love'.

Whoever the mystery girl was, she was sure interesting. Even BEFORE we'd met her.

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><p><span><strong>First chapter done! Whew! So, what do you guys think of my OC? She's a doozy alright. XD In case anyone was wondering, the point in time that this is in is right after the Nirvana incident, because that's as far as I've gotten in reading the manga. X3<strong>

**Please read and review, and remember what I said! First person to let me know what OTP stands for get to have a little hint of the two future pairings I've planned out, and gets to decide what another future pairing will be!**

**~RpM**


	2. It Was Just a Little Warning

**Old Friendships**

**Chapter Two**

**"It Was Just a Little Warning..."**

**Hi! Second chapter, hope you all are enjoying it so far! I have something I want to say, but I'll put it on the bottom so you guys can skip right to the story. Thank you anonymous guest for being my only reviewer. :')**

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><p>The young girl followed me soundlessly as I led her to the lakeshore. There, we could talk without any issues of people trying to listen in or unneeded interruptions. I also remembered her odd addiction to water, or any liquid for that matter.<p>

Sure enough, she squealed and gazed out longingly over the gently rippling water. "Something's wrong when you start to have swimming withdrawals," She said with a laugh.

I snorted, the Eldruin we were speaking giving me a strong sense of nostalgia. "Yeah, I can still remember a certain three year old breaking through two solid feet of ice on Lool Lake just so she could 'check on her fish'."

"Hey, you gotta admit. The way I did it was pretty ingenious." She giggled and grinned. She slowly turned towards me with a questioning look on her face. An eyebrow was lifted and her head was tilted too. She lifted her right arm slightly, and I huffed. Knowing what she was silently asking I opened my arms in invitation.

I was knocked over as I experienced the full strength of an Adurna style glomp. Grunting as I hit the ground and had all the air pushed out of me, I managed to wheeze out something that could pass as a laugh and hugged her back. "Nice to see you again too Mia..." I coughed out with an airy chuckle. The large bird creature sitting over on the ground, a few feet away where it had wisely fluttered over to before it got included in the tackle, snickered to itself. "Oh don't even start, Beckaw." I growled at it.

"If it weren't for the fact that you're already spoken for, Gajeel," The bird creature began with its beak gaped slightly in the only way it could smile, its dark and deep voice seemed to roll out of its beak like thick molasses. "I'd say you two would make a cute couple."

Mia frowned at the bird creature. "Beckaw, Gajeel is practically my brother, NOT a possible boyfriend." She snorted as she let go of me and flipped up to stand her feet. "As if I'd ever date anyone anyway, no one could ever keep up."

I rolled my eyes at her as I stood up myself. "Do you really expect anyone to be able to?" She laughed again and shrugged.

"Now, can we get onto the reason why we came all this way?" Beckaw said with a clack of its beak.

"Oh yeah! That's right.." Mia walked to the edge of the lake and let the water wash over her sandals with a sigh. "It's not safe in Eldru anymore. A good three fourths of synergies created are the dark and twisted ones, and they keep getting more and more powerful."

"That's not the worst of it, darker synergies are getting even more violent. For Sluesssss' sake! I saw one of those black, unintelligent excuses for a synergy _bite their own COLLECTIVE!_" Beckaw snarled out, its frightening long and sharp talons making short work of the riverbank soil.

Mia simply nodded, her face grave. I found myself not recognizing her without her usual goofy grin. "What we're doing right now is gathering all the Expatriate synergies out there who aren't fighters, and soon they'll be on their way here with the whole family, Dirk, and a new Collective who's joined us. Me and Beckaw came first to work out where you were and if you could help us out with someplace to stay...?" I nodded as she trailed off with a questioning glance.

Family was family, even if it'd be a hassle I would never leave them hanging like that. She continued with a grateful smile. "Right now it's the only thing we can do. You know, other than waging all out war with the entire country. Despite our certain... _advantages_, we'd rather NOT get in any more trouble with humanity then we're already in." Seemingly out of nowhere she smirked. "You do realize this guy is painfully loud, extremely clumsy, and ridiculously stupid, right?" She giggled.

"Yeah. I'm honestly trying to figure out how the heck he's never gotten caught on stealth jobs before." I replied, shaking my head exasperatedly. "You want me to scare him off?"

"Nah, I got this one." Her right arm blurred for the briefest moment, and there was a thunk of metal embedding itself in wood followed by a yelp of surprise.

We listened as the person who had been listening in on us from the tree line scrambled noisily away to safety.

"Idiot. Even being unaware of my own advanced senses he should have known _you_ could smell him, and _hear_ him for sure. Geez, if my mom were here she'd have chased him down and dragged him back here just to lecture him on how you should either know how to be sneaky, or just give up and go home." She shook her head at Jet's lack of stealth and I shivered at the thought of _her_ ever meeting Fairy Tail.

It was insane enough already!

"Now, what was it you were saying about Dirk?" I asked, unable to hold back my grin as she smiled brightly and began chattering about all that had happened in the three months since I'd last seen her.

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><p>No Specific P.o.V.<p>

Jet burst through the guild doors with a pale face. He numbly sat down and ordered a strong drink from Mira. As she went to get it for him we all stared at him.

"You followed them didn't you." Gray deadpanned.

Jet just nodded and choked down his beer. Once some more color had returned to his cheeks, he began to tell us what had occurred.

"I had followed them to the lake, hiding in the trees. That girl seemed to love the view of the lake. Then... then she actually _glomped_ him," Our eyes widened in surprise but before anyone could say anything he rushed to the next part. "And he hugged her back!" Natsu and Lucy fell out of their chairs while Gray's eyes twitched and Juvia and Erza's jaws dropped. Master Makarov just sat there quietly listening. "I know! I was just as shocked as you guys... And then the bird talked." His voice cracked slightly and he took a big drink of his beer, nodding his head in thanks when Mira sympathetically set a second in front of him.

"It talked? Are you sure?" Happy asked curiously. Being an exceed, pretty much a blue talking cat, meant that he always loved meeting other nonhuman creatures that could talk too.

"Yes, it talked." Jet said firmly, sounding more as if he was trying to convince himself. "It was in whatever weird language they were speaking, but it definitely talked. After that they got down to business and were talking about something real serious."

"How do you know?" Erza asked him.

"If their tones and faces weren't enough, then the bird sinking its claws into the ground and snarling was a good clue." Erza frowned slightly at his blank face as a thought came to her.

"What happened that panicked you so badly? That's all very strange, but none of it deserves the reaction you've been having." She said, pushing him to continue.

"Well, for some reason... the girl suddenly _smiled_ right in the middle of the conversation. She seemed like she was amused by something... Gajeel asked her something and from the look of it she said no." He started to shake slightly and closed his eyes. "I... I saw her arm, it... it _blurred_ for the tiniest second, and then..." He whispered out the next words. "Then the next thing I knew a _knife_ had buried itself in the tree I was peeking around... _only a centimeter away from my face..._" Levy, who had come to help her teammate after seeing his frightened condition, gasped and covered her mouth in shock.

The rest of us just stared in shock as Jet gulped his beer down. Jet was the fastest, his magic was speed magic after all, so for something to be going too fast for _him_ to see? It meant that the girl was incredibly, no, _impossibly_ fast.

"So..." Lucy mumbled. "She uses speed magic?"

"No." Jet shook his head. "I didn't feel any magic from her."

"We will leave this girl alone unless she comes to us." Everyone turned to Master Makarov as he chose to speak up.

"But Gramps, that girl attacked Jet!" Natsu started protesting before being silenced by a glare from Erza.

"He was not attacked. From what Jet has told us, it appears that she knew he was there listening. It was just a warning meant to scare him away." She turned her glare to all of us. "And you will _all _follow orders and leave her alone." We all trembled and nodded vigorously, not wanting to face her infamous wrath.

A few minutes later found the guild fighting yet again, with people generally distracted from thoughts of the weird girl.

Makarov, however, was not one of them. As guild members fought around him he couldn't help but think of who the girl reminded him of. A woman he had met a real long time ago, with the same eyes and the proud, confident way they both held themselves.

_/Mavis, please don't let THAT woman come to Fairy Tail again!/ _He thought and shivered._ /I'd like to keep our guild in ONE piece thank you very much!/ _He sweatdropped as a wall cracked slightly when Elfman was thrown into it.

"As long as it'll hold up with how wild these brats are anyway..." He groaned to himself.

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><p>Gajeel's P.o.V.<p>

"Mielany Adurna you are NOT sleeping on the roof!" I growled to her as she made to go outside.

"What? Me? Sleep on the roof?" She asked with obviously faked innocence and a smirk.

"Look, I _know _you Mia. If you go to sleep on the roof you're not going to be doing any sleeping. You're too paranoid to sleep without someone you trust nearby, and having a ceiling between us means you're going to be staring at the sky all night." I growled harshly at her, not to be rude. I did it because she could be one of the most stubborn people sometimes, and it was the only way to get it across to her that I was serious.

She sighed and shook her head. "Dude... I love how you're being all 'overprotective big brother' and all, but I can take care of myself. Besides, with all the energy I've got I can go without sleep for _weeks_ if I have to." She smirked proudly.

"But you _don't _have to," I argued with a glare as I crossed my arms. She set her right hand on her hip and glared right back. We had a glaring match, and neither of us was going to back down. But I had the advantage here.

Remembering the advice of the only other people I knew who had eyes as red as mine were, I tilted my head down so that a slight shadow was cast over them. I narrowed my eyes slowly, millimeter by millimeter, until I knew from experience that only the red, slightly glowing parts of my eyes were showing. I tightened the muscles in my face and set my jaw. _/Now if I only knew how to burst into flames and I'd be all set.../_ I thought to myself with an inner smirk.

Suddenly, Mia burst into laughter and doubled over to hold onto her stomach.

"Oh geez, dude! Did Kaine give you glaring lessons or something?!" She giggled and snorted as I rolled my eyes at the failure of my efforts. "Okay okay, I won't sleep on the roof. But ONLY because of how much you looked like a Brisingr right now." She shook her head as she got control over her laughter. "But if you think for one _second _I'm sleeping in a bed-"

"Of course not!" I snorted at her. "_I _can still barely stand it, no way I'd expect you to."

For us, beds were an unnecessary luxury. Before I'd come to Fiore we didn't exactly live anywhere near civilization, and so didn't have beds. I had a little shelf-like hollow in the wall of my cave that I'd slept on with a thin blanket in winter, my cave being just one small section of an immense underground cave system. My cave was filled with metal scraps thrown all around, and my house now was just the same.

Mia rarely slept in her own cave, it became something of a game for her brothers and I to look and see where she had spent the night. The spots we often found her in varied from a tree branch outside, curled up next to her parents, wrapped around the base of a stalagmite or stalactite, once we'd even found her sleeping on top of Metalicana! Though it had been _very_ funny when he'd woken up and knocked her off with a huff.

Some of the places all of us ended up sleeping would probably be uncomfortable, or downright physically impossible, to some, but we'd grown up that way and we were used to it.

Beds? I could never sleep in beds, they were just too soft, too comfortable, they always gave me this feeling like I wasn't paying enough attention. Growing up in a house, or cave if you want to get literal, full of highly trained warriors, not to mention a dragon, who never hesitated to test if you were on your guard? The feeling of someone about to grab me and flip me onto my back kept me from even hoping of getting a good night's rest.

I didn't even have a real bed in my house, just a rusty futon that was falling apart. I usually just slept on the floor or the couch.

Yes, I did happen to have a couch. Whoever had owned the ramshackle little house before me hadn't wanted it and left it. Probably because it was hard as a rock. For me, that was perfect.

I decided to sleep on my, in my opinion, perfect couch that night. Right before falling asleep I looked up and saw a small sandaled foot hanging over the edge of one of the three thick rafters of my living room.

"Figures..." I muttered as I dozed off.

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><p><span><strong>Okay, first of all: If you noticed, Adurna and Brisingr are words in the Ancient Language that mean Water and Fire in that order. You'll learn about why eventually. Second: Kaine is pronounced differently then it looks, Kai-yee-nuh, or Kaiyina if that helps.<strong>

**So, what do you guys think? I've noticed that I haven't really gotten many views and all with this story... For the few of you that DO look at it, could you tell me what's wrong? Is the plot progressing too slow? Is the summary too boring? I want to know! Any info I can get I can use to make this story even better for everyone! :)**

**Also, my challenge last chapter was for someone to tell me what OTP stood for. As a prize, I would give them a clue about one or both of my two possible pairings for the future and they got to suggest a pairing that I might use further on. Sadly, the guest reviewer was the one who had answered. :( I can't tell them the clues, and they didn't say which pairing they wanted. To you, guest, if you're reading this please create a profile or something so I can pm you. Otherwise the challenge still stands, except now I'm paranoid that someone's just going to go and copy what the guest reviewer put. However, if the guest pms (Oh lol X3) me or reviews again so I can pm them before anyone else gets it I will do that. :)**

**Read and Review please!**

**~RpM**


	3. Sister!

**Old Friendships**

**Chapter Three**

**"Sister?! Oh, Not Really? Um, Ok Then..."**

**Hey guys! Here is Chapter Three, all tied up in a nice little bow!**

**Thank you ****Lucy Queen of the Stars and DudeLooksLikeA(guest) for reviewing last chapter!**

**I own nothing! But I wanted to ask Natsu and the other Dragonslayers to help me demand that I be given the rights to Fairy Tail... But then they told me they didn't want to risk being under my complete control. :'( I'm not that bad am I?**

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><p>Lucy's P.o.V.<p>

The next morning I hurried to the guild, hoping to meet the girl. It seemed that everyone else had the same idea, most mornings hardly anyone showed up until noon but almost everyone was there!

I walked in, said 'Hi' to everyone, and sat down at the bar next to Natsu and Happy. "Can I have a strawberry milkshake?" I asked Mira and soon I was sipping on sweet, delicious goodness. As I drank I chatted with several others about who the girl might be. Some guild members had some REALLY weird theories...

Just as some people were starting to think that they would never show up, the front doors opened(apparently the girl liked to be dramatic) and Gajeel stalked in with the girl right behind him. The large bird sat on Gajeel's shoulder, sharp eyes glaring at everything.

"Since I know you guys aren't gonna leave me alone until I introduce her, this is Mielany Adurna." He said loudly without even looking around. Everyone was slightly embarrassed at the annoyance in his tone, but our curiosity was too great for it to really bother us.

The girl smiled and waved cheerfully, a stark contrast to Gajeel's grumpiness. "You can all just call me Mia!" She said.

"So, Mia," Mira said as Gajeel rolled his eyes at her suggestive tone. "How do you know Gajeel?"

"Oh, Gajeel's my brother!"

"WHAT?!" Half of the guild shouted and Gajeel facepalmed. Natsu immediately perked up at the idea of another Dragonslayer.

"She's your sister? I'm guessing you're the older one?" The suggestive tone was completely gone from Mira's voice as she smiled at Gajeel.

"No, she ain't my _real_ sister. But yeah, we do consider ourselves brother and sister. And she's only thirteen so of course I'm older." Some people were surprised to hear that Mia was only thirteen, while most, including myself, were shocked at how Gajeel seemed fine with calling her his sister. So far there had been no evidence that the two even LIKED each other, besides when Jet spied on them, and many people were finding it hard to believe.

"Really?" Mira turned back to Mia.

"Yup! We're pretty close, but you can't really tell with Mr. Grumpy over here," She teased him and elbowed his side with a smirk. He just rolled his eyes again before walking off to his usual seat in the corner of the guild. He seemed to mumble something to the bird as he went.

The bird hopped off his shoulder and fluttered over to the bar, Mia skipping up and sitting down on a barstool next to it. Again she sat in that weird way as the day before, legs tucked next to her. How she even managed such a position on a barstool was beyond me. She scratched the bird underneath its chin, before giving the rest of the guild a pointed look.

Everyone stopped staring and turned around, though it was painfully obvious that they were still listening in. She rolled her eyes and smirked but accepted it.

"Who's this little fella?" Grey asked as he reached out to pet the bird himself. A brief smirk crossed her face yet again for a second right as the bird snapped at his hand.

"This 'little fella' doesn't appreciate being talked to like some dumb animal!" The bird hissed at him.

"Um, sorry?" Grey gave it a bewildered look. Clearly he didn't expect Jet's story of the bird talking to be real.

The bird 'hmphed' and scooted closer to Mia, glaring at everyone. She just laughed.

"This is Beckaw, its a Synergy." She told us.

"What's a synergy?" I asked her, finally getting a word in. After some of the mystifying stories some members had come up with about her it was strangely gratifying to be able to talk to her myself.

She frowned as she thought. The small group of people at the bar, mainly just Team Natsu and Mira, waited and waited as she looked apprehensive about saying anything. Finally Gajeel shouted something at her in the other language from his spot and she brightened up.

Now, a look of comedic contemplation came over her as she somehow produced a pipe and pretended to puff on it. I had to stifle my laughter as she narrowed her eyes in thought.

"Would you like the long version, or the short version? The long one would take hours and hours and hours and hours and etcetera, not to mention we would keep getting sidetracked as I tried to explain it all to you and the fact that there is very much that I probably couldn't tell you or you wouldn't understand. Of course, the short one is VERY abbreviated and you wouldn't learn nearly as much as you could." She spoke incredibly fast, I barely even understood her!

"Um... short.. version?"

"Well then," She lost all traces of humor again as she straightened. "If you looked up the word synergy in a dictionary you would read: 'The interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements'. That pretty much sums up what a synergy is. In the country I come from, oh don't give me that look you guys don't seem stupid, we all know that you guys've figured at least THAT out by now, the people can't directly use magic. Instead, they create synergies. They are made from tiny, individual pieces of a soul, and they themselves are able to use magic. The owner of a synergy is the one who's soul the synergy came from. They are called Collectives, and they usually have more than two or three synergies. The basics of it is: A synergy and it's magic combined with its Collective is greater than the synergy alone, the Collective alone, or the Collective not having used a piece of its soul for the formation in the first place."

It took more than a few minutes for all that to sink in. It was strange, she had spoken so fast that we couldn't understand her as she spoke it, but once she was finished our brains seemed to catch up with her words. Once everyone finally did understand it, Natsu looked at Beckaw curiously.

"So he's your synergy?"

"ITs!" The bird, er, synergy, snarled at him. Mia gave Beckaw a calming pat.

"Beckaw is an Expatriate synergy, meaning that its Collective has died. Expatriate synergies have genders like any synergy, but they are considered genderless and instead of calling one he or she you have to call them 'it'." She nodded seriously

"Oh, sorry..." Natsu shrunk back from the glare Beckaw was giving him. I didn't really get it. If they HAD genders, why were they considered genderless? It didn't make any sense!

"You take care of Beckaw, right? So what does that make you?" Mira asked.

"Well, someone who cares for Expatriate synergies is called a Quisling. But, I'm not Beckaw's. Gajeel is."

There was silence for a moment. "You know, that really makes sense." I said. I was about to say more, but she suddenly giggled.

"Oh geez, you guys got mine but I never got _your_ names!" She smiled.

"Wow, I can't believe I forgot!" In all honesty I was just too absorbed in listening to her. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia!" After that, somehow we were dragged around the guild in a whirlwind of names and introductions. We went from table to table and she smiled and laughed and had fun with _everyone_ at one point or another.

She was a great person to be around, always doing something silly to make people laugh. She was polite and nice, not taking anything with less than a smile. It was hard to see her as being close to Gajeel, as he was usually closed off and reserved, but once she started going she managed to drag Gajeel into it and the guild saw a side of him that nobody, except maybe Juvia or Levy, knew was there.

He was still rough and sarcastic, but she made him laugh and he didn't bother to hide his emotions around her. He spoke a lot more, and even made us laugh several times with how open and plain _fun_ he was being. But no matter what he stayed around her, as if she was his little comfort zone that had to be right there with him to open him up. It was obvious now just how close the two were, neither seemed to like being in physical contact with others but they freely elbowed each other and gave one another noogies. They laughed and smiled at certain things that no one else found quite as funny, and it was easy to see that the two shared many inside jokes. But then again, back to Mia.

She always spoke quickly, as if unintentionally in a hurry, and when she got to talking it was hard to understand her, just like before. Something else I noticed about her was that no matter what she was always moving. Whether she was skipping across the room, gesturing wildly while talking, or simply standing still she was always twitching. It wasn't like a full blown muscle spasm, just small twitches here and there.

I wasn't sure what to make of it but I was quickly distracted by her or others whenever I went to ask her something. She was just so... _energetic_, it seemed like she never stopped!

"Mia, what kind of magic do you have?!" Natsu asked excitedly. I could practically hear him chanting '_Dragonslayer Dragonslayer Dragonslayer,'_ in his mind.

She paused. She had a thoughtful look that quickly changed to a wild grin.

"Want to see an example?" She asked as she giggled for whatever reason.

"Yes!" Natsu and Happy cheered.

"I shall need a volunteer!" She proclaimed dramatically in a deep voice.

"Uh, I guess I'll give it a try," I said nervously as I got up from my seat.

"Nah, you can stay sitting," She chirped as she walked over to me. She lifted her fingers up so that her pointer, middle, and ring fingers were pointing at me as the other fingers were closed into a slight fist.

"Will it hurt?" I asked as I sat back down and fidgeted.

"Just a little, it'll feel about the same as an ant bite. Don't worry though, it'll disappear in a few seconds." She took a deep breath and lifted her hand to my neck. "Unarchived Magic: Water Survival!"

Her fingers suddenly ran lengthwise across my throat, glowing slightly. I flinched as it stung a little, but true to her word it faded quickly. I looked around to see everyone staring at me in shock. Or, more specifically, my neck.

"What?" I jumped in surprise at the strange sensation of the skin on my neck moving when I spoke.

"Lu-chan... you have..." Juvia struggled to get the words out.

"Gills!" Mia happily exclaimed and, similarly to the pipe, pulled out a small hand mirror out of nowhere for me to look.

At first I didn't see anything, but when I took a breath I saw my skin shift a little. I took as deep a breath as I could and watched as three gills running across the front of my neck flared outwards.

"That's... amazing.." I said in awe, feeling them with my hand. "Wait, they aren't permanent right?!"

"Of course not!" She snickered. "I use it on myself all the time, it'll go away in about half an hour."

"So... is that all you can do?" Natsu frowned, clearly wondering how she had done what she did to Jet (who had panicked at seeing her and nearly fainted when she'd been introduced to him) the day before and upset that she didn't turn out to be a Dragonslayer.

"Yup. Well, that's the only _magic _I can do." She nodded and I got the feeling she wouldn't elaborate on her words.

"I noticed that you didn't give off any magical energy with your spell." Master Makarov said. (When did_ he_ get here?)

"Well that's easy to explain. You can only use Unarchived Magics if they've been passed down to you through blood. But not even the people who _use_ it know everything about it. One of its little quirks is that it doesn't give off magical energy, rather, keeping it within the spell and concealing it."

"That must come in handy!" Levy said kindly. While being a little nervous around her at first she had quickly warmed up to her.

"Yeah," Mia said.

"Mia, I'd like to offer a spot in Fairy Tail to you," Jaws dropped as anyone who heard Master Makarov stared at him.

"Wait, what?! Why?" None were more surprised than Mia as she stared at him with wide eyes and confusion showing.

"Well, you're a very nice person. You're kind, fun, value family more than other things, and all my brats seem to like you. That's the kind of person I like to have in my guild, and I figured I might as well ask you since you seem to like my brats just as much back." He smiled at her.

She thought for a moment, forehead creased. Beckaw fluttered over to her shoulder and nudged her ear with its beak in a comforting gesture.

"Come on Mia, there's no harm in it!" Gajeel spoke up. He then said something in the other language and her eyes widened. She looked around at the guild hall, which was perfectly silent as we waited for her answer, with a shocked expression. A bright smile worked its way onto her face.

"Of _course!_"

There was a loud cheer from around the hall. Just like Master Makarov had said, even though they had only known her for a few hours everyone had already grown attached to her bubbly personality.

A party was immediately in swing to celebrate and welcome the new member and Mira came over from behind the bar with the guild's stamp.

"Where would you like your guild mark and what color?" She smiled brightly. Mia thought for a moment before turning her left shoulder to Mira and lifting the rose colored shawl up.

"In light blue next to the rune." Mira didn't move and neither did anyone else who saw.

"I-I'm sorry," Mira stuttered as she realized she'd been staring. "May I ask how?"

"I was born with a birth defect," Mia shrugged nonchalantly. "If my arm hadn't been amputated it would've spread and I'd've died. I get along fine without it." Her arm was missing two inches below her shoulder, leaving a a short stub. On it was a complex looking rune. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Fried was quickly copying the rune down onto a napkin.

"What's the rune for?" I asked curiously.

She shrugged again, it was really weird how the stub shifted with the movement. "Nothing really, just something all my family has."

Mira then pressed the stamp onto her shoulder next to the rune. There was the normal magical sparkle and pop and then Mia turned to show off her new guild mark to everyone with a smile. Everyone cheered again and the party continued.

A short while later I was staring at my second milkshake of the day. Mia was talking to Gajeel again, making everyone stare at them because he was talking and laughing with her.

"What's wrong Lucy?" Mira asked and I realized I'd been frowning.

"Oh, nothing. I just feel kind of odd about the fact that her arm was missing and nobody even noticed!" I sighed and stirred my milkshake with the straw.

"Well that was probably the point," Mira said, leaning against the bar. "She isn't effected at all by it, and she was pretty quick to tell us that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. She must not like people making a big deal about it."

"Exactly!"

"AAH!" Both Mira and I shrieked and jumped as Mielany showed up out of nowhere. I fell of my seat and hit my milkshake with my arm as I flailed. It flew forwards and ended up hitting Mira.

"Oh my gosh, I'm _SO_ sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you!" She babbled on and one, spouting apologies with a terrified expression on her face.

"It's okay, nothing to worry about." Mira said comfortingly as she grabbed a rag and started trying to clean herself off. I hauled myself to my with a laugh.

"It's fine Mia, you didn't mean to so no harm done! I didn't really plan on finishing that milkshake anyways."

"Oh," She blinked and stared at us with a bewildered look.

She did insist on helping Mira clean up, and still apologized at least ten times to each of us before Gajeel managed to drag her away with an exasperated look.

It was strange really, she had seemed so scared of our reactions. Almost like she expected us to be angry at her.

I pushed the thoughts out of my head, telling myself I would ask her about it later. But for the rest of the day, and night because of the party, every time I tried asking her questions we would get interrupted. It was easy to pass off as simple coincidences, but after a while it was obvious that she was avoiding answering questions as much as she could.

I didn't really mind, it was her own past after all. I would simply wait until she was comfortable enough to tell it to the guild.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Me: Yay! Lots of info on Mia this chapter! Looking back on her I get the dangerous feeling of Mary Sue coming on... I'll try to keep it from getting to that but the truth is that her entire family-<strong>

**Mielany: Say ONE word about my family and you're going to end up tied to a rock in the bottom of a lake WITHOUT my gills.**

**Me: *pouts* Sorry guys, I don't want to have to be rescued. Her family takes debts very seriously and I can think of a few of them who'll be very interested in making me repay it. Please Read and Review to tell me what you think of her! **

**Mielany: Please? *puppy dog eyes* I want to know that people like me! **

**Me: IF people like you, you mean. **

**Mielany: No, I meant what I said.**

**Me: *facepalm* We're going to have to work on your people skills...**


	4. First Job

**Old Friendships **

**Chapter Four**

**"First Job" **

**Yes yes I know... Late. But my laptop charger broke. I typed this all up on my phone. That said, SO sorry for any mistakes. :* The good news is... *guitar starts playing* SCHOOOOL'S OUT! FOR! SUMMER! SCHOOOOL'S OUT! FOR! EVAH! **

**Yes, school is out for me! I will have a slagton of time to write and type and all that crud. Like I said, this chapter is late. BUT! I already have the next chapter written, if not typed up. So you guys should end up getting the next one pretty soon! I've ALSO got the chapter after THAT mostly written too! *happy productive dance* **

**Thanks to Lucy Queen of the Stars for reviewing last chapter! **

**MEESA OWN NOTHING EXCEPT STORY IDEA! MEESA DON'T KNOW WHY I'M TALKING LIKE JARJAR!**

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><p>Lucy's P.o.V.<p>

In the next few days Mia didn't really do that much. She spent her time hanging out around the guild, getting to know her guild mates better. Every once in a while she would disappear, giving everyone a slight break from her energetic personality.

Master Makarov was the one who discovered her love for high places. He had idly glanced up at the giant beams crossing the ceiling and had nearly fainted in shock.

Mia had hung by her legs from one, letting her arm and shawl dangle below her. He'd immediately panicked, and soon everyone else was staring up in similar shock. The _lowest_ of those beams was twenty feet high after all!

Gajeel had laughed at us, while Mia had asked what was wrong. Not receiving any answer, she dropped down to ask again. Literally _dropped_.

Then, in an amazing show of catlike agility, she'd landed gracefully on her feet without making a single sound. By that point Gajeel was laughing so hard he was having difficulty breathing.

It took a few more moments before anyone could make a comment, but it was Cana who'd finally broken the silence.

"What else've you got up your sleeve?"

After that Mia had just smiled. By now, the guild members were used to her odd affinity to hights and would often have fun picking out her relaxed form from amidst the beams.

Right now she was looking at the job board with a curious tilt of her head. I got up and walked over to her to see what she was thinking, I needed to see if there were any good jobs up anyways.

"Thinking of taking a job, Mia-chan?" I asked as I subtly elbowed Nab. He _really_ needed to stop hogging the job board.

"Yeah! I want one that me and Gajeel can do together, and maybe Juvia can come too!" She giggled with stars in her eyes.

It had quickly become clear that she loved water, ice as well. She'd been asking Grey question after fascinated question about his magic when Juvia had stalked up to her and basically claimed him(much to his embarrassment).

Mielany hadn't seemed bothered by it, until Juvia started making her usual 'love rival' accusations. She was almost about to cry (or yell, it was often hard to tell what emotions she was feeling) when a grinning Gajeel had walked up to her and mentioned that Juvia was a Water Mage.

It was hilarious really, she had paused with her eyes wide with a surprised look on her face. Then she'd let out an excited squeal and literally jumped up and down while spouting dozens of questions.

Ever since, Juvia and her had worked it out and were now good friends. Grey had been forced to avoid both of them afterwards, due to Mia apparently attempting to help get the two mages together.

"I think Juvia would be happy to go with you if you asked," I told her with a smile. I turned my attention to the board when she smiled back.

**_Protect a delivery convoy from bandits._**

That one looked pretty good...

**_Assist in clearing out an old copper mine._**

Yikes, sounded a little dangerous!

**_Escort me to a ball!_**

_/Oh come on, really?/_ I rolled my eyes.

**_Find an enchanted seashell._**

I blinked. With Mia's energetic personality and her love of the sea, the job seemed perfect for her.

**_Capture bandits running loose on my property._**

I made a mental note to show that job to Natsu, he liked hunting jobs. (Levy was adamant about dragon instincts being the reason for it.)

"Perfect!" Mia said happily, pulling a paper off the board. I didn't get a chance to see it before she was skipping across the room towards Gajeel.

She waved it at him while talking animatedly. He listened and then walked over to Juvia, who looked at the paper in surprise before Gajeel seemed to reassure her of something.

I focused back on the board when Juvia left, Gajeel heading to Mira with the paper. I didn't notice Mira frown worriedly, or see her reluctance at writing the job down on her clipboard.

After all, who would guess that Mielany was a thrill seeker?

* * *

><p>No One's P.o.V.<p>

Later as the day started to end Mira randomly asked Lucy if she'd seen Mia around anywhere.

"You don't know? She left on that mission with Gajeel and Juvia." She told her.

Mira's eyes widened slightly and she shook her head. "This is _not _good..."

"What's wrong?" Erza demanded.

"That job was only _just_ below being an S-class job. Gajeel and Juvia might have some difficulty doing it, but I didn't know they were taking Mielany with them!" She bit her lip and frowned.

"What was the job and where? I will bring them back myself. They should know better than to take a new member on such a dangerous mission and not consider their safety." Erza stood up, ready to leave as soon as possible.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile...<p>

"Is Gajeel-kun _sure_ that Mielany is strong enough to be helping on this job?" Juvia asked nervously. She was getting a _bad_ feeling about this.

"No." He snorted. "She's _not_ strong, weak even. But it's not her strength that's important." He smirked as Juvia's bewildered look.

He blanched as the train they were on hit a bump in the tracks. Juvia tried to hold back her laughter as he groaned.

"Where _is_ Mia?" Juvia wondered as she looked around their seating area. "She wandered off sometime after the train started."

"Probably messin' with the conductor or something." Gajeel grumbled.

"Juvia gets the feeling that Gajeel knows exactly where she is." She looked at him questioningly.

"Yeah well I'm not gonna spoil the surprise." He groaned again as the train hit another bump. "She doesn't like trains all that much though..." Juvia nodded, thinking to herself that Mia must have motion sickness too. "...she says they're too slow."

Juvia's eyes widened as she stared at him. "Gajeel-kun, tell Juvia the truth. Is Mielany's Water Survival _really_ the only magic she can do?"

"Yes. Absolutely positively." He growled. "But magic's over rated." Juvia gave him another odd look, but decided to leave it at that.

"Did Beckaw leave with Mia-chan?" Juvia suddenly asked, realizing she hadn't seen the synergy. "Did he-I mean, _it_, even come?"

Gajeel pointed outside and Juvia looked through the window. She blinked when she saw a large black shape flying among a few birds.

"Oh."

"Yeah. It doesn't like trains either, it prefers to just fly."

Juvia settled into her seat as the cabin descended into silence. She watched the bird synergy tease the ordinary birds. It would swipe at them and they would try to swipe back. Most of the time Beckaw easily dove out of the way, but every once in a while the birds' greater numbers would work in their favor.

She spent the rest of the train ride watching the game of aerial tag and silently cheering on her favorites.

* * *

><p>A short while later...<p>

Mia hummed happily to herself as she sat on the top of the train, giggling as her hair whipped back and forth in the wind.

She pulled out a piece of paper and looked at it, having some difficulty with the rough wind.

**_Apprehend the assassin Charlie and his _****_well-known group of followers._**

"This is gonna be fun." She smiled. She'd already done her research a while ago, Charlie was an extremely well-know assassin in Fiore. "Kind of defeats the purpose when an assassin is well-known," She commented idly to the rushing air.

His group of followers were all the lowest scum off the streets, far beyond simple bandits and muggers. They most likely followed him out of fear, or to have protection.

That or they were truly sick psychos who relished killing.

"I am far too morbid for a thirteen year old," She laughed. "Oh well."

She hopped up to her feet, tucking the paper into a hidden pocket on her side. She walked up the length of the car, not in the least bothered by the wind resistance that should have been able to sweep her off like she weighed nothing.

"Mmm..." She signed blissfully at the feeling of the wind flowing past her.

"Gajeel's about to puke." A dark voice chuckled into her ear as a familiar set of claws settled gently as they could on her shoulder.

"Well yeah, he's a Dragonslayer and he just spent seven hours on a train." She snickered. "We're almost at our stop, so let's go let them know we're still alive."

She swung over the side of the train and laughed as Beckaw fell and flapped further away from the train, spitting out violent curses in Eldruin. She landed easily on the connecting cables between the cars, steadying herself as Beckaw continued flying next to the train.

"Hang on!" She shouted to the synergy. "I'll open the window for you!" She simply giggled at the glare she received.

It took a minute to get the lock on the door to open, but she soon slipped inside. No one saw her, seeing as they were all in their cabins.

She made her way down the aisle and opened the door to the compartment Juvia and Gajeel had chosen.

"Hiya!" She grinned when Juvia jumped from surprise. She had been looking out the window and so hadn't seen her come in, and for some reason Mia hadn't made a single sound while opening the sliding door.

Before the water mage could say anything she hopped over to the window and unlocked it. The latch was stuck, so she struggled with it while Juvia still tried to figure out when she'd come in.

She composed herself rather easily once she decided to not let it confuse her. "Where have you been this whole time Mia-chan?" She asked just a _touch_ too innocently.

"Nice try." The teenager deadpanned with a dry smirk.

"Juvia had to try," She shrugged with a small smile. "What are you trying to do, Mia?"

"Get the goshdanged window open, what's it look like?" She huffed as she put her full weight behind the latch. "_Yipes!_" She shrieked as the latch suddenly popped open.

There was a... Juvia wasn't quite sure _what_ she saw. All she knew was that Mia had stumbled, caught herself, and then returned to her original position. There had been an eerie _graceful_ quality to it of all things, the entire thing taking place so fast Juvia was unsure how she'd seen it.

Gajeel and Mielany watched her, both amused, for her reaction.

"Juvia is going to add that to the list of things she doesn't understand about Mia-chan and pretend it didn't happen."

Mia smiled. "Catchin' on aren't you?"

"Juvia believes so," She smiled back slightly. She really _was_ confused, incredibly so. But nothing the odd girl did surprised or baffled Gajeel in any way and she trusted him.

Plus, she really was catching on. Like Lucy she knew that Mia hid secrets. What those secrets were, she had no clue. She'd noticed that when people tried pushing her for information she'd only find some way to fend the question off, closing herself off more. But as time passed and people left her alone, sometimes with Gajeel's encouragement, Mia told various bits and pieces of what Juvia could tell was a very complicated puzzle.

Juvia was content with waiting for that puzzle to complete itself. It was obvious from the nervous way she avoided close contact and danced around many topics that there was a very important reason for being so secretive.

"SECRA LEEK JU FEECE SHOO FEECE KEER FEECE KYOSH LEEK ZHER BAHR JER ZHER SVE KEE BETA TECKA KEE KEER BETA!" Juvia jumped in surprise when Mia stuck her head out of the (finally) open window and shouted loudly in Eldruin.

Mia took a step back and Juvia shrieked when a black blur shot through the window and collided with the floor. There was a lot of flapping before Juvia peeked out from behind her fingers to see Beckaw cursing loudly and struggling to stand up.

She let out a nervous laugh then jumped when there was a small _pop_. She watched with wonder as a pair of arms popped into existence and it used them to push itself up.

It was only now that she was getting a closer look at the synergy that she noticed that none of its limbs actually connected to its body, instead floating next to the body where they would attach otherwise. She wasn't as surprised as she could be, because Mia had explained to her privately that synergies were essentially made of magic.

"Okay, _this_ one we can explain. All synergies can pop their limbs in and out of small dimensional pockets." Mia explained. She giggled as Juvia blinked and shook her head.

"Juvia feels that it will be a long time until she stops being confused around Mia-chan."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, quick note to everyone. Eldruin is based off of several things. #1: A language I made up called Ju-Kyosh, it's made to be written using symbols instead of spoken so that's why it turns out weird. #2: All the cussing is going to be <strong>**in different languages that don't technically exist. Like frag, slag, yiff, spraint, stuff like that. **

**What Mia said was: "COME HERE YOU ****STUPID BIRD!" **

**:3 **

**Please read and review! **


	5. Bonding Time

**Old Friendships**

**Chapter Five**

**"Bonding Time"**

**Hey there! I told you guys I'd get the next chapter up as soon as possible. ;D**

**Thank you Pips(guest) for reviewing last chapter! As for the answer to your question, I'm not at liberty to say. I could have him paired with someone else... Or might I do Levy? Hmmm... I actually haven't completely settled on one so it's likely that I might change it! XD **

**I own only my insane number of OCs and the story idea!**

**Oh, and by the way... WHO LIKES MY NEW COVER ART?! :D**

* * *

><p>No One's P.o.V.<p>

Once at Mulberry Town, the small village the job request had specified, they all checked in with the Mayor. He didn't have very much information besides the fact that the dangerous group was currently stealing livestock and belongings from the townsfolk who lived further away from the town. Once that was taken care of Gajeel and Juvia went to the town's only hotel, Mia skipping off to who knows where.

It was almost dark, so Juvia began to get ready to go to sleep. They planned on leaving early in the morning to start, though Juvia had no idea what either of the two meant. Knowing Gajeel's discomfort in beds, she laid a blanket down on the floor. She'd already tested the mini-couch, it was stiff and squishy and she knew it was too soft.

"Thanks," Gajeel grunted as he walked to the bathroom for a shower. Juvia smiled back and turned to sit on her bed.

"Eee!" She jumped and put a hand to her rapidly beating heart, trying to calm it down when Mia was sitting nonchalantly on it with her legs crossed. "Mia-chan!?"

"Yup!" She grinned. "Sorry 'bout that, didn't mean to scare you so badly."

"It's okay," Juvia laughed shakily. "But does Mia think she can try not to scare Juvia at _all_?"

"I can try to not scare you as _bad_, but as for at all?" She winked. "No promises." She scooted over so that Juvia could sit with her. The water mage sat down and leaned against the headboard, marveling at how Mielany's movements didn't cause the springs in the mattress to creak. There was a fluttering at the open window and Beckaw settled calmly in the window sill.

"Hey Juvia-chan, I can tell you this now and then when you get a shower I can tell Gajeel-kun." Juvia looked curiously at her. "Okay, so Charlie and his gang have hung out near this town for a while. They've been mostly disturbing farms and the like, but it's most likely they're planning for something a little a bigger."

"That makes sense to Juvia," Juvia nodded.

"Good! So, tomorrow we're gonna Find 'em and Scatter 'em!"

Juvia blinked. "How?"

"You'll see!" Mia grinned happily.

Juvia just smiled softly and shook her head.

* * *

><p>It was only extremely early the next morning when Erza's train arrived in Mulberry. Once she got off she asked around to see if anyone knew which hotel the trio was staying in, but hardly was out.<p>

"It's most likely that with an assassin being nearby, fewer citizens are willing to be outside, especially at this time." She said quietly to herself.

"True!"

Erza whipped around to see Mia right behind her.

"Mielany, I order you take me to Gajeel and Juvia." She demanded.

"No." Mia frowned. "The only reason you're here is because you think a newbie like me can't take on such a 'dangerous' mission, even`with help." She put her right hand on her hip and Erza felt like that was her way of crossing her arms with only one arm to work with.

"Yes, that's true," Erza nodded. "But Juvia, and especially Gajeel, should know better than to put a new and inexperienced member-"

"Fourteen."

"Excuse me?" Erza's eyebrows met as she frowned.

"That's how many weapons I have hidden on me right now, fourteen. NOT even including my main weapon, natural weapons, and my skills themselves." She looked straight into Erza's eyes and Erza saw a wariness beyond her years. "Erza, I may look silly, heck! I do that on purpose! But take me seriously when I say I am far from _inexperienced_, I can take care of myself."

Erza gasped and took a step back in shock when Mia disappeared from thin air. She shook her head and looked around, seeing nothing but the empty streets around her.

"Oh! And by the way," She stiffened when Mia's cheery voice rang in her ear, sounding as if she were speaking over her shoulder. "Nin-nin~!" She whipped around again, seeing nothing. She heard Mielany's giggles echoing eerily and held back a shiver.

She would never admit it if asked, but Mielany's little performance (for she seemed to have been just showing off) had frightened her. When she disappeared, she left no trace. No magical signature, no sound, not even a breath of air.

"Nin-nin?" Erza whispered to herself with a calculated look.

* * *

><p>Mielany's P.o.V.<p>

After I finished messing with Erza I did my awesome sneaky routine all the way back to the hotel. It was easy slipping past Beckaw at the window, though I paused at feeling its magic pulsing sporadically from a nightmare. A soft pulse of my magic soothed it and I could feel the synergy calm down.

I watched my sort-of-brother and Juvia sleep for a while, but I got bored pretty easily. I mean, Gajeel knew I wasn't sleeping. I didn't like sleeping with my rune activated, not to mention that someone I didn't really know was there too. There was no way I would get any sleep if I _tried!_

Okay, so I _did_ know Juvia more than most... But trust issues are pretty much guaranteed in my family! And... I didn't know how Juvia would react to me if my rune was off... The very idea made me twitchier than normal.

After a few more hours of goofing off and screwing with some crooks it was _finally_ time for me to wake everyone up!

"Pheem odi keou feece zher sve teconashiis!"

* * *

><p>Gajeel's P.o.V.<p>

_/Fragging Pit, how many times have I told her not to wake me up by yelling.../_ I groaned and covered my ears.

"Mia!" I yelled back. "Stop cussing like that or I'm telling your brothers!"

"What? You cuss worse than I do though! And that wasn't even a real cuss word!"

"I don't give a frag!"

"See?!"

"Mia-chan, Gajeel-kun, please speak so Juvia can understand you." Juvia slurred.

I rolled my eyes while Mielany giggled. "Sorry Juve, habit."

"It's okay Gajeel-kun," She yawned as she sat up.

"Nice bed head." Mia snickered.

Juvia rolled her eyes and stretched. As she got up and began getting ready I started drifting back to sleep...

"Geez, you've gotten lazy Gajeel." I yelped when Mia put her face in mine.

"Yeah, well, I don't have ten different fragging drill sergeants anymore." I growled as I finally pushed myself up. "Plus, I'm surprised you even know the _word_ lazy." I poked her shoulder where her muscles had just twitched again.

She huffed and smirked playfully. "I'm surprised _you_ can even _fight_ considering how lazy you are."

I raised my fist threateningly and smirked back. "Say that to my Iron Dragon's Fist!"

"Ya sure you can even hit me?" She waggled her eyebrows teasingly.

"Are you sure that I don't remember your fighting style?" I stood up and stretched slowly. "After all, we did grow up together."

Her face nearly split in half with the massive smile she suddenly gave as she let out a loud squeal. I looked at her with an amused face as she started to jump up and down excitedly.

"What?" I questioned as she began to shake her arm everywhere energetically.

"Ooooh, I want to tell you but I want to surprise you too!" She squealed again.

"Please speak Fiorian!" Juvia called from the bathroom. I blinked, noticing that we'd accidentally slipped into Eldruin again.

"Sorry!" Mia chirped and wiggled in excitement.

Juvia came out of the bathroom dressed and ready for the day. A few minutes later I was dressed too, but Mia stopped me once I left the bathroom.

"Nu uh uh," She stuck her tongue out with a giggle and teasingly waved a hairbrush around in her hand. Juvia stood next to her with a hopeful look.

"Mia-chan told Juvia about your tradition," She smiled slightly.

I sighed and sat down on the bad, pulling all of my thick hair behind me. It was so thick, it was still slightly damp from my shower the night before. "Go ahead," I waved a hand behind me.

Juvia grinned while Mia jumped over to the bed and sat on her knees behind me. Juvia grabbed her own brush and followed her example.

Okay, I had to admit. My hair sucked. It looked cool and it helped with intimidating people, but it sucked.

Our 'tradition' was that someone (usually either Mia, her cousin VeeVee, or her little sister) would brush my hair for me, since I couldn't brush it myself without ripping out half my scalp.

Back in Eldru there was a traveling Quisling who was a family friend of sorts, he had an expatriate synergy by the name of Wheary.

Each synergy owns a form of magic that is influenced by their collective and what they're created for. Wheary's was odd by Fiore magic standards, but it was fairly common among synergies. Its magic allowed it to brush hair with its long fingers, cleaning and untangling it at the same time.

_Wow_ that magic felt good too, it felt like your scalp was being massaged with a soothing tingle in the background. Of course, the perky synergy wasn't around near as often as I wished, even during the times when its Quisling visited(which had been more often lately...).

I guess having Juvia and Mia brush my hair felt good too, I'm pretty sure Juvia was ecstatic about being able to learn more about me. But there were still the times where they accidentally yanked on a tangle. They enjoyed it though, so I didn't say anything as they chatted with each other over random subjects.

"You know, the last few times Gajeel-kun visited Eldru _I _didn't get to brush his hair," If Juvia and Mia were facing me they would have seen my horrified expression. Considering I could practically _hear_ Mia's evil smirk, I'm betting she knew anyways.

"What do you mean Mia-chan?" Juvia asked without a clue over the tension rising.

"Di-" I launched myself at her yelling in Eldruin before she could finish. No _way_ would I let _her _be the one to tell my friends about that!

* * *

><p>Juvia's P.o.V.<p>

It was really confusing.

Gajeel had spun around and tackled Mielany before she could say anything else, but I could guess what the subject was and Gajeel's flushed face told it all. They wrestled on the bed for a minute, yelling at each other in Eldruin, before Gajeel was somehow pushed off. He hit the floor with a loud thump, growling and cursing.

"His special somebody!" Mia shrieked giddily before bolting over him. Another hop and she sailed clear over the head of a startled Beckaw and out the window, laughing crazily all the while.

* * *

><p>Erza's P.o.V.<p>

...Well that was unexpected.

I watched Mielany launch herself out of a window and land perfectly balanced on her feet. While I hadn't known that this hotel was the one they were at, it was pretty clear now.

Mia giggled to herself, ignoring the weird looks she was getting from the two or three other people on the street. She suddenly sobered and looked right at me. I began walking towards her, intending to talk to her.

She shot in front of me with her arm thrown wide. "You're NOT getting to them, it's not their fault. _I_ chose the job, and _I_ convinced Juvia I could take it." She lifted her chin up and gave me a defiant stare.

I shook my head. "No, the job was perfectly in your rights to take. Whether Gajeel and Juvia showed good judgement in letting you come when they knew it was dangerous is yet to be seen. But, considering what I saw last night and just now," I mentioned towards the window and she gave me a sheepish grin. "I'm fairly certain that you can indeed handle this job."

She tilted her head and lowered her arm. "Really? Wow, usually takes more convincing."

I smiled slightly. It was rather amusing how she seemed unable to maintain a serious emotion for long. "There is also the fact that you have an S-class mage and a Dragonslayer with you."

She pouted. "Dang it."

"I will allow you three, four if including Beckaw, to continue this job, but I intend to chaperon to keep an eye on you."

"Whaaat?" She whined. "That's just a fancy way of saying _babysit!_"

I held back a chuckle, shaking my head. "I still intend on accompanying."

"Long as we keep the reward." I turned to see Gajeel and Juvia walking over from the entrance to the hotel.

I nodded to them in agreement. "Yes. I did not take on this job, so any reward may be split between you three. However, Mielany so much as gets a _scratch_," I let the threat hang and gave them a death glare. Juvia shrunk back and whimpered slightly, nodding frantically. Gajeel had always been strangely resistant to my glares, so he merely shivered before nodding. Mia didn't even seem to notice.

"Well what are waiting for?" She giggled, suddenly energized. "Let's get going!" She skipped down the street and I followed, slightly confused.

"Does she know where she going?" I questioned them.

"Always." Gajeel said said confidently.

"Juvia suggests not trying to make sense of it." The water mage said with an apologetic smile at my confusion. "Oh Gajeel-kuuun~" She gave him a look. "What did Mia-chan mean earlier by 'special someone' hmm?" A mischievous smirk crossed her lips as Gajeel blanched.

"Mia! Wait for me!" He yelled and ran ahead. I frowned in more confusion as she burst into laughter.

"Excuse me," I turned and looked around before looking down and seeing Beckaw walking on the ground. _/Since when did he have hands..?/_ "Could I use your shoulder..?" It shuffled awkwardly. "I hate walking and flying after just waking up is never a good idea..."

I thought it over and nodded. "Oh course," The bird-like synergy thanked me and spread its wings. It flapped them a few times and fluttered up to my shoulder. I braced myself, the creature was heavier than it looked, and inwardly chuckled when it had to flap awkwardly a few extra times to catch its balance. "Bad idea indeed..."

This time I did chuckle as Beckaw grumbled at me and glared.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please read and review! ;)<strong>

**I'd like to ask you guys if you think you can guess the 'special someone' Mia mentions for Gajeel! It's pretty tricky, so I'm interested to see what you guys think! At the same time though, it's really obvious...**


	6. The Job Begins

**Old Friendships**

**Chapter Six**

**"The Job Begins"**

**Alright then! Chapter Six, here we go! This chapter was SO fun to write, because of Mia of course. Mia is just plain hilarious in the WORST of situations.**

**So I was wondering, I've had the idea for a Avengers/Fairy Tail fanfiction stuck in my head for a while now. Is there anyone of my followers out there who think it's a good idea? I already have a ton of stories to work on, so it's probably not a good idea to do. But I've learned that if I don't start the story a short while after I start thinking about it then I eventually won't write it at all. I already had one friend encouraging me to do it, but I wanted to know if any of you think the idea has any merit. **

**Thank you alkorn for reviewing last chapter. ^^ And please, tell me any pairings you guys want to see! This isn't a romance story, so there isn't going to very much concentration on that. But I always love writing in little references here and there to pairings. :D I already have three planned out.**

* * *

><p>No One's P.o.V.<p>

Mia happily led the group out of town and into the nearby forest. While Erza was skeptical and Juvia was rather complacent over it, Gajeel followed her confidently with no doubts.

They walked for almost an hour, Mia urging them on with complaints over how slow they were going. Gajeel was always quick to retaliate with an insult and every time the two broke out into a playful argument in Eldruin. They would start to get louder and louder until Erza silenced them with an order to break it up. Unlike with Natsu and Grey, this was enough to calm them down without having to resort to anything physical.

Right as Erza was about to ask how Mia knew where to go, the thirteen year old flung her arm up. She made a motion for silence, then waved them forward. They crept through the undergrowth silently as possible.

The trees opened up, finally revealing...

A... _brown_ river?

Erza blinked with a slight tilt of her head. Juvia shook her head disbelievingly.

"Okay, even I didn't see this one coming." Gajeel frowned in confusion.

Mia giggled quietly before shushing them. She pointed to a section further up the river where the clear water darkened and thickened into what they saw in front of them. A large camp was visible sitting right next to the river with several figures patrolling its perimeter.

She waved back and they all hid themselves within the trees again. Erza turned around, her and Juvia jumping a bit when Mielany was sitting on a low tree branch swinging her legs.

"Mia," Gajeel looked suspiciously at her. "You do realize that river's filled with fragging _chocolate_, right?"

Juvia giggled and Erza perked up. Now that he mentioned it, the entire area had a vague scent of cocoa...

"WHAT?!" Mia shrieked before clamping her hand over her mouth with wide eyes. "_What?!_" She hissed in a more controlled tone. "_That's_ chocolate?! I thought it was those solid little bars Aunt Kenzi's addicted to!" She twitched violently with wide eyes.

"Chocolate can be _melted_, Mia!" Gajeel groaned.

"What is wrong?" Erza asked. "Chocolate is delicious! Almost as good as strawberry cake."

"Nononono! Chocolate has _sugar!_" Mia's eyes were wide and panicked.

"Yes, many foods do," Juvia frowned.

"You don't understand," Gajeel laughed nervously. "Mia can NOT, under ANY circumstances, EVER, _EVER. HAVE. SUGAR._"

"Why not?" Juvia asked, unaware of the horrific memories her question dug up. Mielany's pupils grew until they almost completely covered the dark blue of her eyes. Her face and body seemed to glaze over, leaving a blank slate.

"So... much..." She dazedly whimpered.

Gajeel on the other hand was the opposite, he had a look of utter terror on his face and his pupils had shrunk to pinpricks. He muttered something to himself in Eldruin with a small squeal that he'd later deny.

Juvia looked at Erza, both trading worried looks, and waved her hand in front of his face in the hopes of helping him out of it. He shivered and shook his head.

"Ever." He nodded with a look of finality, still dazed.

Mia eventually snapped out of it when Gajeel pulled her foot and she fell from the tree branch. She hit the ground running with fast reflexes that Erza could tell were gained from experience.

Once she had gotten heartfelt promises out of the both of them to never (EVER) give her anything with sugar in it, Mia finally managed to calm down as much as was normal for her.

Erza was then filled in on the original plan and Gajeel explained the meaning of Mia's words.

"Fin 'em and Scatter 'em. Technically there's supposed to be a third, but that really depends. Step one, Find, we just did. Step two, Scatter, is pretty easy. We bust in from all sides and cause chaos, confuse 'em as much as possibly. That can mean a lot of things though. For now we c'n just hit 'em hard and fast." He smirked.

"What is the third step?" Juvia asked eagerly.

"Knock 'em out!" Mia snickered.

Erza nodded. "It's not very... _thought out_, but it sounds effective. This is still your job, so I will not go in with you. However, I shall be watching from the sidelines and if I see _any one_ of you having difficulty I will enter the battle myself." She glared at them.

"Rightyo!" Mia chirped. "Hey Ju-chan, quick tip! Try sneaking into the camp as far as you can before letting them know you're there! Alrighty then guys, let's do this!" She jumped up and did a fist pump before skipping off.

Gajeel snickered as the slightly overwhelmed looks Juvia and Erza gave. Beckaw launched itself off of Erza's shoulder and flew up through the canopy.

Juvia ended up taking the side up against the river, as she would have an advantage. Gajeel came from the other side while Mia simply did her own thing. Erza watched from the trees, stunned, as she realized exactly how much she had _still_ been underestimating the young girl.

* * *

><p>Juvia's P.o.V.<p>

Like Mia-chan suggested, I snuck a short ways into the camp before doing anything. I hid behind tents and crates full of strange objects, dodging guards left and right.

A few minutes in I was nearly seen, it was only a conveniently placed tent that saved me. I listened as the guard stepped closer and closer until they were about to look around the corner at my hiding spot.

I tensed and just as I was about to jump out I heard a commotion at the other side of the camp. I heard the river gravel fly as the guard did a rough turn around, pausing in surprise at what we were hearing.

"Wahooey~! Wow dude! Lame, slow, slow, bad move, slow, clumsy, slow, hey! Might want to watch that! Play with knives and you might get hurt!" I facepalmed at Mia's cheery voice and laughter.

"Hello," I slipped around the corner of the tent and smirked. The guard wheeled around again only to receive my fist to his face. "Juvia can't let Mia-chan have all the fun, now can she?" I grinned as the man fell to the ground with a moan. I hadn't realized I'd hit him quite _that_ hard...

"Iron Dragon's ROAR!" I shook my head. _Now _I knew why Gajeel was always so loud while fighting, it must be a family thing.

"WOOT!" A peal of giggles sounded out followed by a score of angry voices.

Curious over what she was doing, I followed her voice. I had to fight my way there, even though most of them weren't mages. There were a few times where I had some difficulties with my opponent but overall it was much easier than I had expected.

When I finally found Mielany my hand flew over my mouth to cover the broad smile I couldn't hide. At the same I time I wanted to gawk in amazement, but my amusement was far greater than my awe at the moment.

Mia was disappearing and reappearing rapidly around a large group of crooks, taunting and teasing them. Every time one of them would lunge at her or try to use magic on her she'd disappear again.

She did this and left no trace behind, her hair and clothes weren't even disturbed!

"Hey slowpokes! Stop being so _sloooow~!_" She groaned dramatically. "Give me a _real_ challenge!"

"Coward! Stand still and actually fight!" One of them cried, brandishing a wicked dagger in one hand and a sword in the other. He screamed when she appeared in his face with a bored look.

"Okay, fine! I'll fight without my Quickclaw!" She moved her arm down to her waist and there was the sound of something being unsheathed and a blur. She spun a weapon around expertly in her hand, boredom clearly showing. "Not my fault when you get beat even _more_ embarrassingly."

She lunged forwards, laughing when her weapon was barely blocked in time. The men around her moved into action, all of them attempting to get her at once.

I tensed, ready to put the group into a Water Lock if she was overwhelmed. I quickly realized it was unneeded.

Mia held them all off easily, spinning and twirling in various complex maneuvers. Her weapon was only used to misdirect swords, daggers, and anything metal that came in her direction. Her legs swung out to kick the men away one by one, and she didn't allow a single blow to land on her.

Every movement was graceful and held that same eerie feeling that I felt on the train. She moved fast too, so fast that most of her movements were mere blurs. With each move her enemies made she countered with three more, dodging hits that could kill a full grown man with fluid grace. She commented nonstop as she fought, most of her insults including 'slow' or 'clumsy', though there were a few times she made good remarks.

My awe had _FAR_ overcome my amusement by the time Mielany finished, surrounded by unconscious men. She giggled at my gaping jaw, winking and curtsying with a flourish.

"Well done," A deep voice chuckled. I jumped and whipped around, activating my Water Body just in time as a knife splashed into my abdomen. I took a step back and deactivated Water Body as soon as possible, shivering as I continued backing away from the man in front of me.

I gasped as I was suddenly next to Mia, her hand on my shoulder keeping me steady and my body registering the burn of being pulled too roughly. I fell to my knees with a groan, every part of me feeling as if I'd just gone through a blender.

"Sorry 'bout that, it takes a while to get used to."

"You know, I didn't expect you to be so... _entertaining_." A curly haired man in a top hat and suit stepped forwards with a smirk.

"Wow, creepy voice, funky outfit, automatically assumed superiority, you _must_ be Charlie." Mia smirked right back.

At that moment Gajeel decided to finally show up. He was quick to help me up, muttering something about Mia taking it easy on others.

The man laughed. "Indeed, I _am_ Charlie! You certainly are amusing."

"Why _thank you_ good sir," Mia did a mocking curtsy, sarcasm dripping from her own amused voice. "Nice to know my personality will be appreciated as I kick your aft."

"You can't-"

"Talk to-"

"The boss-"

"That way!"

Two short men stepped out from behind the assassin. They were identical twins and spoke oddly in tandem with each other.

Mia just giggled.

"Oh so-"

"You find-"

"That funny-"

"Do you?!"

"Yep." She laughed and popped the p. "Who're you two?"

"You don't-"

"Know-"

"About-"

"Us?!"

"Nope." Again she popped the p and I sweatdropped at how weirdly things were going.

"I'm Loompa-"

"I'm Oompa-"

"And we're the-"

"Sweets Twins!"

Mielany burst into loud laughter, doubling over and clutching at her side with her arm. "First of all, LAME NAME DUDES! Second, _nobody_ but me gets that?!" She cackled hysterically.

"Ha ha-"

"Very funny!" The 'Sweets Twins' both glared at her angrily. I had trouble hiding my own grin, though Gajeel was laughing his butt off. It really _was_ a ridiculous name, though I didn't understand what Mia was talking about.

Charlie rolled his eyes, bored with how things were dragging on. "Speaking of introductions,_ kid_, who might you be?"

"First of all, don't call me kid! Second, Mielany Adurna! Mielany _Quickclaw _Adurna!" Gajeel's eyes bugged out of his head and his jaw practically fell off.

"WHEN THE _YIFF_ DID YOU BECOME A _QUICKCLAW?!_" He blurted out loudly.

"Like your surprise?" She giggled at him playfully. He stared at her dumbstruck for a minute as everyone else looked between him and Mia in confusion. Eventually he started chuckling, quickly evolving to full blown laughter.

"Oh, I _love_ it!" He grinned dangerously at our enemies. "Can I get a demo?"

"You bet!" Mia winked at him and laughed before turning to our opponents, who were getting annoyed at being ignored.

I decided that I did _NOT _like the look that Mielany was giving them.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright peeps, Read and Review please! I'm a hungry author who literally spazzes out every time I get an awesome review!<strong>


	7. Important! Not a Chapter!

**Not a Chapter**

**Hey guys, I have some news regarding this story. Not it's not particularly bad news, but it means that you won't get any new chapters for a while…**

**Looking back at all my stories I find I'm unsatisfied with them and this one is one of the worst. For one thing I originally planned a GajeelxOC pairing. That is NOT going to work with the direction I want to take this story. **

**At all.**

**For starters, as I write my stories I'm constantly imagining different universes and alternates. One such thing was where Gajeel actually **_**was**_ **related to Mielany. Not siblings obviously, but still related to her by blood.**

**This was also complicated by the fact that in one of the AUs I have in my head Gajeel is paired with a character from a movie (cough cough my story Home Is Where the Heart Heals) and so I had to find a different place for my OC I was originally going to pair him with. During the creation and continuation of this AU I realized something very important. Actually, a few somethings.**

**1: My OC makes a horrible person to be in a relationship with ANYONE.**

**2: My OC makes an even more horrible person to pair with GAJEEL.**

**3: My OC makes the best BROTHER in the WORLD for Gajeel.**

**(Yes, they were that Yaoi I mentioned early on.)**

**So as I look back at this story not only am I ashamed of my older writing style, I just can't get the feel back for it. I know where I was going with everything and I know I could WRITE it still, I just can't. My writing has changed so much between the first chapter and recent ones and I can't match everything up when I don't like the original plot I had for this.**

**So I'm planning on giving everything a MAJOR revamp. As in MAJOR major revamp. The story is going to head in a very different direction.**

**I'm going to be reusing old scenes for it, and ideas are going to be similar in a way, but there will be a lot of things redone. Don't worry, Mia will be her same hilarious, crazy Mary Sue self and Gajeel will continue being dragged along with whatever she thinks is a good (and fun) idea. :D Their interaction is too amusing to get rid of.**

**There will be OCs. Lots and lots of OCs. The entire point of this story in the beginning was to finally get to write about these OCs of mine that have been on the backburner of my life for around ten years. That's one reason I'm not satisfied in what I've done with the story so far, it was taking far too long to bring in the characters I wanted.**

**I hope you guys don't feel mad or anything about my decision. I want you guys to know that I appreciate your support throughout this story more than you'll ever know, and I don't mind if you decide you don't like the newer version once I finish it. I also want you guys to know that I am not doing this because I think my writing sucks, someone made me feel bad about it, or anything of the sort. I'm too freakin' stubborn to do something like this just because someone insulted my story. Not to say that anyone DID, everyone who has reviewed has left wonderfully positive comments. :)**

**But no, I'm doing this because the story got out of hand and went veering off to somewhere it wasn't supposed to go. It didn't even START the way I meant it to. **

**I don't know when I'll have it really revamped, but I have something that will hopefully have you guys not so mad at me. When I replace the chapters I'm going to replace them all at once. That's right, when I finally give you guys the story I meant to write I will upload all 6 chapters at once. Some chapters are going to be REALLY similar to the first version. Such as the first chapter, it's generally going in the direction I intend so I think the most I'm going to do is edit it.**

**The bad thing about doing this is that it'll take me a long while to do this. I know it's already been a while (read: long long long LONG time (OMP I'm so sorry…)) since I last updated but I have a LOT of other stories. Now that I've moved to a different school that's not as completely stressing as the one I **_**was **_**going to I have a lot more time to work on my stories. **

**Scratch that, I have all the time in the world. OMP save me this school is driving me insaaaaane…. **

**Pretending that I DON'T have the most ridiculously simple school in the world, I have a lot of time. **

**A lot. I'll be working on things back and forth a lot.**

**So again I hope you guys aren't mad at me, and I hope you enjoy the story when I finally repost the revamped version.**


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